Amazon's no-checkout grocery headed to Europe

Shoppers can literally grab and go without paying for their goods at a cash register at Amazon's new smart grocery store in Seattle.
USA TODAY

People walk past an Amazon Go store, currently open only to Amazon employees, Thursday, April 27, 2017, in Seattle. Amazon Go shops are convenience stores that don't use cashiers or checkout lines, but use a tracking system that of sensors, algorithms, and cameras to determine what a customer has bought.(Photo: Elaine Thompson, AP)

SAN FRANCISCO — Amazon seems to be looking to export its experimental checkout-less grocery story to the United Kingdom with Friday's registration of the trademark of "No Queue. No Checkout. (No, Seriously.)"

Similar trademarks are in process in the European Union's Intellectual Property Office.

Amazon (AMZN) began testing a no-checkout grocery store called Amazon Go in downtown Seattle in December. Open only to Amazon staff at this point, it allows customers to walk in, grab food from the shelves and walk out again, without ever having to stand in a checkout line. The tagline in the U.S. market: "No Line. No Checkout. (No, Seriously.)"

Amazon had no comment.

Amazon is pushing hard to disrupt the grocery market. In addition to Amazon Go, the company has opened two click-and-collect drive-through grocery stores in Seattle, also only for staff as the technical bugs are worked out. It’s also rumored to be working on a hybrid supermarket that allows consumers to do both online and in-store shopping.

The U.S. grocery market is a much-coveted market by online retailers. It is estimated to be worth close to $800 billion, with most consumers spending about $107 a week at the grocery story and making on average 1.6 trips a week, according to the Food Marketing Institute.

The Amazon Go model takes some of the friction out of shopping. Instead of waiting in a checkout line, customers simply tap their cellphones on a turnstile as they walk into the store, which logs them into the store's network and connects to their Amazon account through an app.

The system uses machine learning, sensors and artificial intelligence to track items customers pick up, which are added to the virtual cart on their app. If they pick up an item they later decide they don't want, putting it back on the shelf removes it from their cart.

The Seattle-based company calls it, "Just walk out technology."

Amazon already offers online grocery ordering and delivery in selected sites in the United Kingdom, a service introduced in June of last year.